The Dysfunctional Rules Task Force — a group of 22 Temple faculty, staff and students chaired by President Ann Weaver Hart — has begun to work its way through nearly 1,000 suggestions submitted by members of the Temple community covering almost every aspect of the university's enterprise, from academic advising and student meal plans to timekeeping and guest use of university facilities.

The group's discussions and preliminary recommendations already have led to the streamlining or elimination of ineffective and outdated policies impacting travel, graduation requirements and payment for production services.

The task force's first victim was a policy requiring a special travel exception form for out-of-state travel, even to New Jersey and other nearby destinations. To provide departments with greater flexibility, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer has declared that travel exception forms will no longer be required for out-of-state travel within the Philadelphia metropolitan region, an area defined as including destinations from New York City to Washington, D.C.

Feedback from students prompted the Faculty Senate's Educational Policies and Procedures Committee to abolish the library skills exam, a holdover requirement from Temple's core curriculum (since replaced by GenEd's required "Analytical Reading and Writing" course). Many upperclassmen who came to Temple before the adoption of GenEd — and whose academic progress demonstrated the ability to use the library effectively — had put off the library skills exam, potentially holding up their graduation.

On Nov. 20, the Office of the Vice President for Computer and Information Services lifted a cumbersome payment policy. Temple's Instructional Support Center no longer requires departments to pay for drop-off production services such as poster printing and slide scanning by submitting Request for Journal Entry Tranfer (or JET) forms.

"I am delighted that the work of the Dysfunctional Rules Task Force is already yielding results that improve the Temple experience for everyone," Hart said. "Even more gratifying is the emotional investment that comes through loud and clear from the students, faculty and staff who took the time to submit their suggestions online."

The task force is scheduled to meet about twice more this semester. A web site outlining the task force's recommendations will be launched in the coming weeks.